A Black Knight With No Memory
by Lightning Lord Kaji
Summary: When a young man wakes up with no memories besides the knowledge of combat on a world he doesn't know, he must figure out how to unlock his past and aid his new friends in NLA survive on planet Mira.Will he earn his place and aid the legendary Elma and her team or will he fall short like everyone believes. (Summary is a work in Progress)
1. Prologue

I don't own Xenoblade and all that

Hey everyone, I picked up Xenoblade and I love it even if it's infuriating sometimes. I'm doing this more as a way to give the created character a voice since it feels like he doesn't contribute to the conversation enough. At least as far as I've gone in. There will be a relationship but I want it to be cute, well at least my version of cute. No lemons, saying that now at least not part of the main story. If people really want it I'll make something separate. The main plot will be in here even if it's a bit altered so if you don't want spoilers for the plot of the game, don't read. Read and Review please!

Prologue

"Mm…" the first thing he knew, he was waking up in a daze and blinding light. His green red diamond eyes took in the light and evened everything out fast. The first thing he saw was a girl, she was beautiful obviously with tanned skin and long silver hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a sort of red uniform and armor. He also noted that she was holding a gun in her hand and it made him nervous.

"Easy there…" her soft voice cut in as she put away her weapon. That made him calm down a bit and it all went away when she offered him her hand. He took her hand and she helped him out of whatever he was resting in.

He stepped out into the world and found that he was actually about a head taller than the girl in front of him. He looked down at himself to see that he was a slender and athletic build and quite pale apparently. He saw that his hair was a faint blue silver color and that he was dressed in just a pair of pants and a simple t-shirt.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I feel ok…I guess…I…wait what's going on?" he asked as confusion hit his brain. He didn't recall anything, at all really. He had no idea where he was or why he was even in that pod to begin with. The blue eyed soldier looked surprised.

"Wait, you don't remember anything? Earth? The attack? The White Whale?" she asked. He shook his head and a sharp pain went through his head, making him grunt and hold his head. She grabbed his shoulders to make sure he didn't fall until he stood back up straight.

"I…I remember that my name is Hiro…but that's it…" Hiro said. The girl frowned at him and tilted her head in thought.

"It must be a side effect from being in your pod, a rare one apparently. I've never heard about anything like this happening before. I'm Elma by the way," she said. Hiro nodded softly, a light blush tugging at him for some reason. He shook it off though and blamed it on being out for…however long he'd been in that pod.

"Nice to meet you, Elma," Hiro said in a light tone. She gave him a small smile and then she pulled one of her guns off, a rifle and handed it to him. Hiro took it attentively into his hands.

"I hope you know how to use that," Elma said. Hiro looked at the gun for a moment and then as if instinctively, he pulled the correct slot of the rifle back and turned the safety off. He aimed down the sight of it to check it and he nodded to her. He didn't know how he knew that, he just did. Elma looked at him for a few moments before she reached into her belt to pull out a knife and offered it to him.

"Here, you'll need something for if they get close too," she said. Hiro nodded and took the blade and strapped it to his waist.

"Are we all there is?" Hiro asked as he looked around the dark forest like area. He felt something wet hit his head and he looked up to see it start to rain and he sighed, finding that he didn't like the rain.

"No, we have a city near here, thankfully you landed relatively close. Apparently you're lucky too, because the people in the other pods that landed here didn't make it…" Elma said somberly. She pulled out a device, her comm probably and typed a few things before she put it away.

"I have let my superiors know I found you. We'll wait for a few moments so they can reply and then we'll move. Before that, I should probably explain a few things. We're from Earth and two alien races attacked us, our planet was destroyed during the battle so our people had to leave. Our ship, the White Whale was the only one to make it unfortunately. I was a soldier in the military if you haven't guessed, judging from how you managed that rifle, you must've had some combat experience. Also I should let you know now, your features are rather…unique like mine unlike the other humans so I'll warn you now. We are humans but we're a bit different," Elma said quickly, though Hiro caught all of it.

"What do you mean different? And I don't remember any combat training at all," Hiro asked.

"We're eternal, that's what the "normal" humans call us. Through the miracles of experimental medicine somewhere along out lines, we were made biologically…immune to everything. Illness and even age have no hold over us. If you're still confused think of it like this, I'm technically near my thirties but my body is really that of a twenty year old and it'll stay that way. Of course we can still be killed by harm though," Elma said thoughtfully. Hiro didn't know whether he was tired or going crazy but he just accepted everything she said.

"Why do you say that like it's a bad thing?" he asked. Elma sighed and combed her hair back softly.

"Well…let's just say there's jealousy and leave it at that…I wanted to warn you about that, plus you might be pushed into some things because of what you are," Elma said apologetically.

"No need, to apologize, thanks for saving me. What everyone else does, won't paint you in my eyes," he said truthfully. Elma gave him the barest of smiles and he thought he saw a blush but he was probably just seeing things. He still felt dizzy after all. The beeping of Elma's comm rang through their ears and she pulled it out and opened it up.

"Alright, they say we are to come back on our own. Follow me, we'll get through this if we work together. We'll also check some of the other wreckage around here to see if they have anything useful like weapons or armor," Elma said quickly as she pulled out two smgs. Hiro nodded and readied his rifle again.

They took off at a decent run through the night, making their way through the grassy fields. There were a few creatures that they passed by but none of them paid them any attention really. They had to cross a river, which was rather cold but it didn't bother them too much since they were busy running. Hiro was beginning to wonder if anything was going to happen ten minutes in and he regretted that thought.

"Look out!" he heard Elma shout. He saw her dive to the side and he did too without thinking. He heard something land where he was and he turned around on the ground to see a rather vicious looking bug like creature staring at him. It hissed at him and he quickly brought his assault rifle up and opened fire on it. The bug died in a few shots but he fired longer than he probably should have.

He looked to his right and saw Elma dispatch two other bug like creatures with two dual blades. She cut them down easily and he was impressed by it. Before he could keep watching though, he turned back to see another bug coming for him. He quickly opened fire on it and took it down. He got onto his feet quickly and started firing on the other bug but his rifle clicked and he looked at the gauge and it read zero. He cursed in his head and quickly drew the knife Elma gave him. The bug lunged at him and he quickly stepped to the side and sunk the blade into it's head. The bug struggled against him though and he had to drive the blade in a few times. He ended up snapping the knife in it's head, breaking his weapon but the bug died at least. He looked at the broken handle of his knife and he sighed before tossing it away and picking up his rifle. He reloaded it and pulled the slot back before he saw Elma looking at him with interest.

"You're not too bad. Are you sure that you don't remember being trained?" Elma asked as she looked him over. Hiro blushed a bit but thankfully the darkness hide it. He saw at least double the amount of bugs he killed around her.

"I'm not sure anymore, I just did it all by instinct I guess…" he said softly as he looked around to see if anymore were coming after them. Elma moved closer to him and he wondered if she was sizing him up again but she just moved into his vision again.

"We could really use people like you who know how to fight," she said matter of fact.

"Well…I don't think I have much else do go off on right now," Hiro said softly.

"So you are interested, then I may have the perfect job for you," she said with a slight smile. He wondered what she meant but then she was already motioning for him to follow her. He shrugged and followed after her. She led him to what looked like some kind of container.

"This is a storage container that fell from the whale, we should probably check it for something, might have something useful," Elma said as she pulled her device out. She hit something and a few moments later the crate opened up, if a bit slowly. They both looked inside and saw a few things. It was a full set of gear for one person, a uniform of medium combat armor and a rifle and a longsword.

"Take them, you need them more than I do," Elma said swiftly. He nodded and reached inside to pick up the combat armor and then he turned to Elma, expectantly, who was still staring at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Um…can you…look away…" Hiro asked softly. Elma's eyes widened slightly and she blushed in embarrassment as she turned away and walked a few feet away. Hiro blushed slightly but shook it off and quickly changed into the combat armor like he'd done so before. It felt good to put it on since he felt more protected and warmer as well. He pulled out the sword and placed it onto his back and replaced the assault rifle given to him with the one in the pod since it looked to be in better condition. When he was set he walked up to Elma who was still watching the fields for danger.

"Elma?" Hiro asked. She turned to him and sized him up again and he thought he saw the traces of a smile before she commented.

"Are you really sure that you're not a soldier?" she asked, breaking her usual calm tone. Hiro shrugged since he really didn't know anymore and Elma actually chuckled before she motioned for him to follow her. Hiro liked the sound of her laugh but he didn't stay on that thought for long and followed her.

They spent the next few minutes going around to the other containers that had apparently fallen and getting what they could from them. When they got everything they thought there was, Elma said it was time to move into the next area. She led him up a path in between some small mountains and Hiro noticed that the sun was starting to rise. They walked for a few moments until the ground became flat and they came to a cliff and by that point that sun had seemed to fully rise and the rain let up, lighting up the world. Hiro's eyes widened as he took in the landscape of the land now that there was light. He saw many different creatures running around the land and then he and Elma both backed up when a rather large creature raised its head up above the cliff and walked away, thankfully.

"This is our new home, we call if Mira. As you can see there are many different creatures living here and we have to figure out how to live here in harmony with everything. You can see our city from here, New Los Angeles or NLA for short. Do you recognize the habitat unit?" Elma said as she pointed towards the big city in the distance. Hiro could see a bunch of crystal like structures around the walls and he saw the words United States on the wall.

"So how should we get there?" he asked. Elma pointed towards a path on their left.

"We could jump the cliff but since you're still new, we should probably go through the high road. You lead the way, get a feel for the land," Elma said. Hiro nodded and he walked towards the high path, Elma following close behind him.

Hiro spent the entire walk taking in the landscape. It looked beautiful but he knew it was dangerous too. He saw a pack of big quadrupedal creatures running along the fields, he could tell those things were hostile just from looking at them. He didn't bother attacking any of the creatures he came across since Elma said they were supposed to be trying to live in harmony with the world. One creature in particular that they passed made him nervous. It wasn't as big as the other creature he saw but he it was still a lot bigger than he was. It was like a few trees with a turtle like thing at the top.

Hiro also spent the walk talking to Elma about some other things that seemed important. He asked her more about how they lost their home but she told him the same thing she told him the first time that they were just caught in a battle between two alien races. Though after that she started asking him about whether he wanted to join BLADE, the organization she was a part of.

"As I said before, you certainty seem to know your way around combat, BLADE is always looking for new recruits and you're an eternal, they'd surely take you in without question," Elma said, Hiro smiled at her but he frowned and scratched his head, moving his hair away from his place.

"It sounds nice but I don't have any memory of anything before waking up and seeing you, besides my name. I don't even know how I know how to fight," Hiro said honestly as they made their way down the path that would take them directly to the gate to the city.

"BLADE isn't just combat, we also try to help maintain the economy and help the people out," Elma replied.

"But a lot of that involves fighting though…" Hiro said. Elma frowned softly and nodded. Hiro smiled though and sighed softly as they made their way to the gate that was now in view.

"Relax…it sounds nice. You stand to protect everyone who can't protect themselves. I could see myself doing that," Hiro said. Elma looked at him and she smiled back and she was going to say something else but before she could, they both realized they were practically at the gate. There were a few guards and a couple of cars with mounted turrets on the back.

"Colonel Elma! You're back!" one of the guards said as they approached them.

"Yes, unfortunately I only found one survivor and a few things from the containers that fell," Elma said somberly.

"Damn…well at least we got someone, right?" the guard said as he turned to look at Hiro. HIro was a bit more occupied though since he heard some ruffling in the grass behind them. Then he started hearing the rumbling of footsteps and a lot of them.

"Elma…" Hiro said.

"I hear it too…" Elma said as she drew her weapons.

"Damn! Indigens! Everyone find cover!" the guard said. As he said that five of those quadrupedal creatures he saw earlier came running down the path towards them.

"Take them down!" Elma ordered as she opened fire on them. Hiro took aim and started firing his rifle at them as well. They both hit one of them in the legs and it fell down. Then Hiro hit something on his rifle and it said flame grenade activated. He took aim at the downed creature and fired and a orange sphere fired from his gun and exploded in fire when it hit the downed creature, incinerating it.

"Whoa…" Hiro was taken out of his awe though because the creatures were basically right on top of them. He quickly put his rifle away and drew his longsword and he ducked down and slashed one of the creatures legs that tried to run him over. The creature fell onto it's back and he quickly jumped on top of it and impaled it with his sword, this time he finished it quickly. He stabbed the creature in the heart or where he thought it was.

"Shadowstrike!" Hiro saw Elma do a backflip in the air and slash one of the indigens, making it stagger away. He quickly sprinted towards it and slashed one of it's legs, making it fall over. Then Elma jumped on top of it and finished it off. She nodded to him and they moved in on another indigen that was gunning for them. They both stepped to the side when it lunged and slashed it's sides as it passed, making it hit the ground hard, blood spilling onto the grass. It died after a few moments. The last indigen was handled by the firing line of guards and turrets. Hiro turned to Elma who approached him with a curious look on her face.

"I take it back, you're not half bad, you're good. I don't suppose you made up your mind about joining blade?" Elma asked. Hiro chuckled a bit and wiped his sword off.

"I guess I have…"


	2. BLADE

I don't own Xenoblade

Hey everyone so this part is going to be a fusion of chapter 1 and 2 of the game since chapter 1 is very short in game plus there's no real action in it. I will be doing the affinity missions for some of the characters at least but I'll be putting those in a separate story since I feel like it. This one focuses more on the main main plot. The differences are that obviously this is a ElmaxHiro(Cross) fic and I will also make Hiro more relevant to the overall story than the actual game. Also don't expect exact dialogue, there will be some that's exact but most of it is coming straight out of memory since I can't replay cut scenes as far as I can see. Also this is not a completionist type deal so I won't show every single side questline because a lot of them don't feel too relevant. Now then, enjoy the story and remember to read and review and leave if you don't want spoilers!

Chapter 1: BLADE

"So the city was named after the city on Earth?" Hiro asked as he and Elma stepped onto an elevator. The main gate was locked down due to the indigen attack so they had to take the elevator up to the maintenance and supply entrance that went above the main gate and the lockdown. Apparently there was some big indigen problem besides the ones they just dealt with.

"Yes, it was even modeled after it as well, if you don't remember it was quite the city back home or…well…" Elma trailed off and Hiro frowned since she seemed so depressed. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she smiled a bit before she shrugged him off gently. They didn't talk the rest of the way up.

"Come on, let's see if looking at the city will help your memories return," Elma said with a hint of dare Hiro say, anxiousness as she led him down the small passage out to a small balcony. Hiro's eyes widened at how big the city was. He shouldn't have been too surprised considering how big it looked outside but still. It was an impressive sight to behold though one thing that made him confused was the tallest tower near the back of the city had a percentage on it. He wondered what that was but he didn't pay it too much mind.

"Our birth home is gone and now this is all we have left, NLA," Elma said as she placed her hands on her hips as Hiro took in the city. Despite their hopes though, HIro didn't feel any of his memories return just a small headache.

"No good?" Elma asked and he shook his head and sighed.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll remember everything in time. Come, I'll show you the living quarters first," Elma reassured. Then she motioned for him to follow her onto another fright elevator. As they made their way down though a broadcast came onto the tower with the percentage and the speakers that were apparently set up around the city. The man on the broadcast was a middle aged man that must've been the leader or something along those lines.

"People of New Los Angeles Good day. This is your director General Maurice Chausson. Today I come to you with news that I'm sure you'll be delighted to hear. Yesterday we repatriated ten more White Whale crew members. These fellow pioneers will rejoin our ranks as citizens of NLA, brining with them the skills and know how that will bolster our ability to survive and indeed flourish here in our new home. This of course is only our latest success in our continuing efforts-" Hiro stopped paying attention when their elevator came to a stop and Elma seemed to have something on her mind.

"Director General? That's new, what happened while I was gone?" Elma asked as they walked down to the streets below. Hiro immediately felt a bit nervous about the man on the broadcast.

"Two days ago, ma'am," a new voice cut in. Hiro turned around to see a pair approaching them. One was a woman a bit shorter than Elma and the other was a man who was taller than both women but shorter than Hiro by a bit. They were both soldiers from the way they were dressed.

"From Political Aide to Director General, at this rate he'll be emperor by next month," the man said.

"Ah, Irina, Gwin," Elma addressed. They both saluted and the blonde woman said.

"Yes, ma'am, good work out there," her firm voice was a bit surprising and Hiro knew not to talk carelessly around her.

"This is Irina Akulov and Gwin Evans. They're both part of the Interceptor division in Blade," Elma introduced.

"Wait, it's just him? What happened to ten?!" Gwin asked.

"Are you really that naïve still? Chausson isn't going to let lies cover up a good speech," Irina said a bit bitterly. Then she dropped it and smiled at Hiro.

"What's your name? I don't remember you from the force. Though that might change soon if the Commander has his way," she asked, kindly enough though the last parts made Hiro nervous.

"My name's Hiro," Hiro said simply.

"Just Hiro? No last name?" Gwin asked. Hiro's eyes went downward as he thought about it and nothing came out still.

"I…I don't know what it is…" Hiro said softly. Irina and Gwin both seemed surprised about that. Though Irina seemed to be the only one who got the hint, or at least enough of it to know what not to do.

"Oh…why's that?" Gwin asked, intrigued, Irina elbowed him in the gut though, making him grunt.

"I…don't remember it…" Hiro didn't exactly know how to answer more than that. Gwin seemed to get it now and they let the subject drop. Elma spoke up though before anything got too awkward.

"I served in the coalition force back on Earth with these two. I was a Colonel and Irina was a lieutenant and Gwin was kind of new. We were in the Special Operations Heavy Armor Training Unit also called the Skeleton Crew. I'm in a separate division from them now but I usually cross paths with them," Elma said. Then she smiled and added.

"Though I keep telling them that those old ranks don't apply here anymore," Irina and Gwin both chuckled before Irina spoke up.

"You'll always be Colonel to me ma'am and nothing is going to change that. And that isn't about rank or reorganization, it's about respect. You've earned that and more," Irina said faithfully. Hiro looked at Elma in a bit of a new light after that. He knew she was something but he had no idea that she was some big war hero from the sounds of it. He felt a bit…inadequate next to her, he felt that way next to Irina and Gwin too.

"And award to best ass-kiss goes too…" that remark was followed by a yelp of pain since Irina hit Gwin again.

"Alright ma'am we better get to work, will we see you out in the field sometime after you drop him off?" Irina asked. Hiro felt his heart drop a bit at that, he kind of wanted to stick around Elma. Though he supposed it made sense, she was just out there to bring him back after all. He inwardly sighed since he probably wasn't going to see her for awhile.

"Actually, I'm going to see this one through the process. There's some things I want to oversee," Elma said.

"Ma'am?" Irina asked, a bit confused. Hiro was confused as well but happy at the same time.

"I just have a feeling about our new friend here," Elma said with a slight smile, making Hiro blush a bit. Irina looked at him for a bit, probably trying to see whatever Elma mentioned and then she shrugged.

"As you say, ma'am, come on Gwin," she said. The two left right away and Hiro turned to Elma. She looked at him and gave him one of her slight smiles that made him avert his eyes a bit. He chided himself for acting like a little boy with a crush though.

"Come along, let's go, the administrative district is on the other side of the city but it shouldn't take that long if we use the transport. You'll call that home for now," her eyes went downwards as if she felt guilty about something.

"Something wrong?" he asked, he couldn't help himself this time from speaking out.

"No, it's nothing, come along, before the Director starts wondering where you are," she said. He nodded and he followed her through the industrial zone that they were in, or at least that's what he thought it was. Though before they got too far they both heard the sound of some…thrusters? Hiro looked up and saw a…flying mech.

"A skell with the new flight module but wait…" Elma said then on queue the "skell" started smoking and then it started flying out of control. Then after a few moments it came down to crash into one of the streets. The next moment a car drove by quite fast, in the direction of the crash. Elma quickly ran towards it and Hiro followed after her quickly.

They saw the car come to a screeching stop in front of the downed, smoking skell. A small black haired girl jumped out of the car and ran to the skell. Hiro couldn't tell what she did but the next moment the cockpit of the skell opened. A large man in heavy looking armor emerged from the skell rather quickly. He hit something on his helmet and pulled it off, revealing a clean-shaven and military cut man.

"Damn it!" he cursed as he threw the helmet at one of the walls of the street. He jumped down from the skell as Elma and Hiro reached them.

"Doug, you ok?" Elma asked. The man, Doug saw them approach and put on a friendly enough smile.

"Ah, Elma, you saw that did you? Well yeah I'm ok but my skell isn't," he grumbled then the girl from the car spoke up.

"Maybe if you flew better it wouldn't have happened?" she asked. Doug sighed and crossed his arms.

"Hey! It wasn't my fault, there was exhaust spilling into my cockpit, check what's wrong with the ducts," Doug threw back. Hiro chuckled softly and he saw Elma try to hide the fact that she was smiling.

"Oh I'm checking, I just doubt that I-oh look at that, the intake duct was reversed, good thing I caught that," she said thoughtfully as she pulled out her comm or whatever device that everyone had apparently. Doug looked like he was going to blow a casket.

"Caught that? You're the one that cleared me for the flight!" he accused.

"Not like you to mess up a flight check, Lin. If Doug wasn't the pilot something might have happened," Elma said. The girl, Lin turned to them and smiled as she approached them both. The first thing that Hiro noticed though was that she was rather…small and young also. She was shorter than Elma by almost a head and she was quite small as well.

"Elma, I didn't know you got back. And…is this…your boyfriend or something?" she asked. Hiro's eyes widened and his face flushed red badly. He averted his eyes away but he noticed Elma had turned a bit red as well.

"I thought you were going to be with Lao or something?" Lin asked. Hiro felt his heart drop from hearing that but he shook it off.

"No Lin, it's nothing like that. He's one of the survivors that I found, the only one this time," Elma said in her usual tone but Hiro detected a bit of embarrassment in it. Lin let out a small laugh and clapped her hands together.

"Sorry, just kidding, I had an idea already. Though I'm surprised that you're still with him. Usually you drop them off with someone else and head back out, I'm Lin Lee Koo by the way, stranger. Mechanic and all top fix it gal for BLADE," she said cheerfully. Hiro had recovered from his embarrassment and managed to reply normally.

"My name's Hiro…don't remember much more than that…but uh…you're a bit young," Hiro commented.

"She's thirteen but don't let that fool you, she's one of our best and in my opinion she's probably our best engineer," Elma praised and Lin laughed.

"Aww shucks, I would blush but its true!" Lin piped and Hiro smiled a little at her attitude.

"Anyway as I said before the pilot there is Doug, one of our best," Elma said. The man, Doug waved at him and Hiro waved back silently. Doug was just as tall as Hiro but he was more built compared to Hiro's athletic build.

"So, since you're here how about I join you guys? We can take the transport and it'll be much easier to show him around," Lin suggested.

"That sounds good, we were actually heading there already," Elma said. Lin nodded and turned to Doug.

"Alright, Doug, clean this up and get it back to the hanger, I'll fix the exhaust problem tomorrow," Lin said as the now trio made their way to the transports, much to Dough's annoyance.

"Wait, but this is your mess!" Doug said to death ears. Hiro felt bad but he shrugged it off and followed the two. They made their way through the district up to what looked like a plane. The pilot saluted Elma and she said to take them to the administrative district fast. After a few moments they were in the air on the way to their destination.

"This view never gets old, it's like a new city every time," Lin said thoughtfully. Hiro looked out the window at the sight and admitted that it was indeed something to take wonder in. He was brought out of his thoughts when Elma sat next to him.

"Still no memories?" she asked. He shook his head and she frowned, Hiro thought she looked depressed actually.

"Lin, we're pressed for time here so just give him the basic run down," Elma said as she stood up to go look at something else. Lin came up to his window and pointed back the way they came.

"NLA is divided into four districts, we just left the industrial district. That place has the food production, skell development and industry things," Lin said and Hiro nodded before she pointed towards another part of the city, the place with a lot of traffic from the looks of it.

"That is the commercial district. That place is known for the stores. Clothing, groceries, food, you name it. It's pretty much where you go for some downtown fun. It gets crowded a lot too since it's the only place like it here," Lin said before she pointed towards the quieter looking section of the city.

"There, is the residential district. As the name implies it's where most residents of NLA live. Lots of housing but of course there's a park and a cathedral too. It's a relaxing and quiet place for us to just chill out," Lin said thoughtfully before she pointed straight ahead towards their destination with all the tall buildings.

"Then last but not least, our destination, the Administrative District, the nerve center at the heart of NLA. Home to the main government and BLADE HQ and the barracks that all operatives call home. Along with armory alley it also has the hanger for skell maintenance and repairs. That concludes our tour, we will be landing shortly," Lin said thoughtfully. Hiro laughed a bit at her antics as the ship landed down in the administrative district.

"Nice job Lin, well Hiro here we are. Normally I would have passed you off to someone else by now but I'll hand in the report myself this time," Elma said as they walked off the ship.

"Thanks…" Hiro said softly but then Elma grabbed his arm suddenly and stopped him. She pulled him back slightly and when he looked at her she placed her finger against her lips. He looked back at Lin but she seemed far too taken by something on a console. Hiro didn't resist though as she brought him to a small alley where no one was around.

"Sorry, Hiro but I wanted to warn you and I couldn't do it before since we were surrounded by listeners but here we should be fine," Elma said quickly.

"What's going on?" Hiro asked as he tugged his arm free.

"Listen Hiro, I have to warn you now. I already told you that we're perceived differently than normal humans and I'm sure you've been getting hints about it from everyone we talk to but I'm going to tell you straight. Most people would see us as their guardians but that goes two ways. The government, particularly the new Director sees us as…tools in a way. They believe that our status means that we can do much more than everyone else. That's why I was alone when I found you instead of having a team with me. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Elma asked, quietly. Hiro took in all the information quickly and he nodded.

"Is…Lin one of us too?" Hiro asked but Elma shook her head.

"No she isn't, she is simply very talented and loves what she's good at. But you and I definitely are and people are going to know one way or another, at least the people that matter," Elma explained and Hiro nodded.

"So…when we meet your superiors…am I going to be forced to join BLADE?" HIro asked, softly.

"BLADE is a good organization, don't think it isn't. I didn't lie when I said that we stand to protect humanity. But…yes…you will be asked but if you say no, there may be incentives for you to change your mind, not from BLADE mind you but our government. Not every eternal is forced into it and from what I understand it's almost never happened but I just had to warn you considering your…ability," Elma said softly as she looked around to make sure no one was around again. Hiro sighed and combed his hand through his hair. Just when things seemed to be getting good, there seemed to be more problems.

"How bad will it be?" he asked.

"Not terrible, we're not driven until we drop but I wanted to let you know…I wouldn't forgive myself if something bad happened because you weren't aware…" Elma said softly as her head went down. Hiro nodded and he placed his hand on her shoulder when her head was down. He nodded to her and she gave him another slight smile with dare he say, a tinge of blush?

"I didn't lie either when I said I wouldn't mind helping defend humanity, besides it's the least I could do since BLADE and you saved me," he said gratefully. Elma gave him a bigger smile but it didn't last before she sighed and shrugged him off gently again.

"Quickly then, they are expecting us," Elma said as she brushed by him gently. He followed her quickly and they found Lin where she was when they left her.

"Lin, enough browsing we need to get moving," Elma said and Lin turned to them in surprise before she shrugged.

"I was checking to see if Doug got the skell back to the hanger but alright," she appeased.

"Let's go, Armory Alley is this way, it's on our way to the barracks," Elma said as she waved them along. They took the main street next to the big tower, with BLADE stamped on it.

"That's BLADE tower, it houses the main government and our superiors as well. We might head there sometimes after missions, you'll see what it looks like soon if Elma does what I think she's going to do," Lin said. Hiro looked up at the big tower and he felt like the people in there were staring at him even though he couldn't tell. He turned it away from his mind as he was brought through the armory alley they mentioned. It was a lane of shops though unlike the commercial district they were all advertising weapons and armor.

"This is armory alley, memorize it, you'll be seeing it a lot. As the name implies this is where everyone gets suited up with the best gear or whatever they can afford. This is also where people buy gear for their skells as well," Lin commented as they walked through the shops.

"Skells, those mechs, does every BLADE get one?" Hiro asked as he turned to Elma.

"Well no, back on Earth we would have said yes but here it's different. Our resources are a bit scarcer and we don't know what can replace what yet, at least effectively. Skells are our best weapons for combat and building our new home. So naturally we have a limited number now and it's even harder to keep them serviced now with all the hostile indigens out there. Only the best are given a skell," Elma said thoughtfully.

"Then why don't you have one, Elma? You seem like the best to me," Hiro commented. Elma was silent for a few moments and Hiro thought he saw her cheeks flush but he was probably seeing things.

"That's…kind of you to say but well I did…but it was destroyed some time ago, all of it, even the frame. I haven't managed to raise enough funds to acquire a new one yet. You can imagine that since we have a limited number, the price is very high to acquire one even if you have the clearance. They don't give you a gun just because you're aloud to have one," Elma said, though she sounded a bit bitter about it.

"No use, being stuck on it now though," Elma continued as they passed by the various shops for weapons and armor. When they passed by two big terminals, though, Lin stopped them.

"Remember those two terminals, that's where you'll be getting most of your gear. The main one is the orange one, that's where a cumulative of all weapons and armor and any gear available will be set so you don't have to run around the whole alley. The other terminal is for the arms manufactures. Since we're short on resources, BLADE has to help pitch in to the weapon and armor development that we need. There aren't many companies now but that'll change soon, hopefully," Lin said. Hiro nodded and he wanted to go check it out but Elma placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, the barracks is in sight and I can see the Secretary now. We'll let you go check everything out later after we get you registered for the city and BLADE if you want," she said as they moved towards the barracks. It wasn't hard to miss since the building literally had the name on it. Though Hiro noticed that there were several other barracks with different symbols and colors on them but he didn't pay too much attention to them except for the one with a sort of blue horse symbol. After sidestepping a few skells and people they made their way up the steps to it. Hiro saw a man waiting by the entrance. He was a clean-cut middle-aged man with a scar crossing his chin and lip. He stood with an air of authority and nobility.

"Ah, there you are, Elma, the Director was wondering if you were going to deliver our new resident at all. Though I was surprised to see that you actually brought him in yourself," the man said with a firm voice as he approached them. He wore a fancy uniform and Hiro saw the patch, secretary of defense pinned onto the uniform.

"Secretary Nagi," Lin greeted before Elma could speak up.

"Ah, Miss Koo, I see you tagged along as well," the man now known as Nagi replied.

"Yep, I wanted to see the new guy in. Elma personally brining him in was interesting," Lin said energetically.

"So I see," Nagi said as he walked up to Hiro, Lin and Elma stepping aside. The man was shorter than Hiro yet he still walked with an intimidating posture. When he stood in front of Hiro he extended his hand out and Hiro was surprised. Though he took his hand and they shook.

"I am Kentaro Nagi, the Secretary of Defense here in NLA. I am charged with keeping the Peace and all military and policing matters are under my jurisdiction," he said firmly as they parted from their handshake.

"I am Hiro, just Hiro for now. I don't remember anything else before waking up from my pod," Hiro replied honestly. Nagi seemed surprised and he crossed his arms and he regarded Hiro critically like there was something he knew but he only did it for a moment.

"This makes things a bit…different then, I heard about it in the report but I wasn't sure," he said. Elma came up to him after that.

"Let's take this inside the barracks, there will be a lot to cover for him," Elma said. The secretary nodded and then they all entered the barracks. The barracks was clean and bright, which Hiro didn't exactly expect. He saw a hanger for what he guessed to be skells far along the entrance path and then when they turned they came to a sort of living room. There was a kitchen, a dining table, sort of and everything. There were a few other rooms as well but Hiro didn't have a chance to look at them since they went right up to the platform in the living room with some kind of giant table. Lin went off to the kitchen to start preparing some refreshments while Elma and Nagi took Hiro up.

"Now then, I assume Elma informed you about what happened to Earth?" Nagi asked as he tapped the table and the entire thing lit up. Hiro took back what he thought about the table after that. A few images and holograms popped up but they didn't stay long.

"Earth was attacked or caught in the middle of a battle between two advanced alien races right?" Hiro asked. Nagi nodded and motioned for Elma to continue on.

"The Earthlife Colonization Project or Project Exodus was the program that spawned the white whale and the other colony ships. Except, ours was the only one that made it as far as we know… that said it took two long years and even then the hostile xenos still followed after us here to unknown space…" Elma said somberly.

"I see…" Hiro said thoughtfully.

"So what were you saying about my memory loss making things different?" Hiro asked. Nagi seemed to flinch ever so slightly at that but he remained firm overall. Elma was the one that seemed to fully shudder but before he could ask anything else Nagi began speaking.

"Just makes it a little harder to figure out who you are. Most of the records were lost on Earth and well with the destruction of the White Whale…a lot of people are getting a bit of a clean slate so to say. Whoever you were, there's a good chance you're just going to have to remember that on your own for now," Nagi said. Hiro's eyes went downcast at that news. So that was it? Whoever he was, was just gone? That seemed like a fate worse than death but he couldn't let that hold him back.

"So what happens now then?" he asked.

"Well here on Mira and in NLA, every person needs to do their part if we are to survive. From what I've heard you handled yourself very well against the indigens, you and Elma cleared the Grexes that assaulted the West Gate. How about you take up a job here in BLADE?" Nagi asked. Hiro was wondering when he was going to ask that.

"I filled him in on what BLADE is and what we do for humanity. Plus I showed him around the administrative district where all our associates and merchants are," Elma said and Nagi nodded before clearing his throat.

"Then I will add a few things in to give him a full picture. BLADE stands for Builders of a Legacy After the Destruction of Earth, fitting don't you think? After we landed on Mira, the things we needed just went on and on. The government couldn't handle it all so BLADE was created. Our main charge is to protect and ensure the survival of humanity. That does not always mean combat, we also must gather resources and sort through the problems the residents have," Nagi summarized.

"They definitely stand for good," Hiro commented, looking at Elma. She gave him a slight smile and he blushed slightly before he shook it off.

"So you'd just offer me a job like that?" Hiro asked, skeptically. He knew there was more meaning to it, thanks to Elma's warning but still.

"We are always looking for new recruits especially ones with the potential like you, assuming everything Elma said is true along with the footage from outside the west gate," Nagi said. HIro looked at Elma but she turned away from him a bit shyly, but she tried to play it off like nothing. He wondered when she had the time to write up a report and send it.

"Well…I think I'd be a fool to say no, I'm in," Hiro said proudly. He didn't exactly know why but he just felt…good about the organization. He felt a distinct need to defend people, it felt right to him.

"It's always good to have new recruits. Commander Vandham has actually asked that we send you on a training mission right away. I would usually advise against it so soon but well, we need to send teams out as soon as possible. We've been slowed down by the lockdown so much as it is. Elma, you'll take him in your team," Nagi said.

"Roger that, sir. Alright then, rookie it's time to see how well you do missions," Lin cut in as she brought in a tray of tea. Hiro chuckled a bit but he didn't particularly like the name, rookie.

"Right, then look, here," Nagi commanded as he activated another feature on the table and a large map came up.

"This is a full map of Primordia, NLA included. This world is still new to us so we need to learn everything we can about it if we are to survive here. We place beacons out in the field in order to gather data and resources. We don't have that many right now but we're always looking to expand. Your mission is to go out and place one of these beacons down. It'll give you a feel for field work," Nagi instructed.

"That sounds nice…" Hiro said as enthusiastically as he could. He felt tired but he didn't really show it.

"It'll just be a routine job. Nothing too exhausting I assure you," Elma said, picking up on his exhaustion. Hiro felt a little embarrassed by that, even though he'd been asleep for a while, he still felt exhausted. It was a lot to take in and his mind and his body were both taxed.

"Right, so if you're ready, Elma, he'll join your team for now since you've already been working together," Nagi said. Elma nodded and addressed Hiro and Lin.

"Right, let's get moving while it's still day time. It'll be easier to move now than at night," Elma ordered. The three quickly left the barracks with little time for anything else, before Elma started leading them out into the wilderness through the administrative gate.

"I heard that you guys defended the west gate from the Indigen attack," Lin commented as they walked through the fields. Hiro eyed a lot of the creatures they passed since he was afraid of getting attacked again.

"Yes that was us, Rook here did very well considering he'd been in stasis for so long," Elma said the name almost distastefully. Hiro winced slightly at the nickname but he didn't say anything about it.

"Come to think of it, has anything come up yet? Any memories of how you learned to use that sword or your gun?" Elma asked him directly. Hiro thought for a few moments but his head throbbed when he tried to think of anything in his past.

"Nothing at all, sorry," Hiro said as he shook his head.

"Hm…our records are limited but we'll check to see if we have anything on you when we get back. There's no way you could just know how to use those weapons without any kind of training and a lot of it judging from the form," Elma said. Hiro wondered about that himself actually, when combat started, he just moved like it was natural. All muscle memory and instinct like he'd done it for years.

"Hey Elma, my Comm is saying the dig site is close by," Lin said and Hiro saw her looking at a small handheld device that projected a screen. Elma stopped as well and pulled her own out and Hiro just looked around feeling a bit out of place. He started overlooking the area, noting all the indigens running around, thankfully nothing decided to just attack them on sight.

"Hey Rook," Lin nudged him slightly, making him jump slightly before he composed himself.

"Yes?" he asked politely as he looked his rifle over, embarrassed. Lin giggled softly before she held out something to him. He took it from her hand and turning it over in his hand and then he pressed the one button on it and a screen projected itself out.

"That's a comm device, every BLADE or every citizen has one. We were supposed to give it to you in the barracks but well…we forgot…" Lin said sheepishly. Hiro looked towards Elma and saw her still scanning her own device.

"The device let's you do basically everything from talking to people to managing your equipment," Lin said passionately like she designed it, and Hiro oddly thought she did.

"Try looking into your map, you should have the data from our mission. I took the liberty of already updating everything for you," Lin said happily. Hiro nodded his thanks and hit the map button, which was the picture of the continent. Primorida appeared on his device and then he zoomed it in naturally on the blinking light. The map also had the nice feature of highlighting himself and his friends on the map. Indeed he saw that they were close to their objective.

"If you're finished, we should move with haste before something not friendly decides to come after us," Elma said in her ever-stoic voice of a girl on the job.

"Of course," Hiro said without a second thought. Lin sighed and then the three made their way towards their objective, staying on a relatively straight path. There was little talk since Elma seemed adamant on being focused and Hiro had no idea what to talk about, being too caught up on his absence of memories. Though the silence would soon be broken.

"Hey look!" Lin shouted, alarmed. Elma and Hiro immediately became alert and tensed. In front of them was quite an alarming sight, to him anyway.

They had a visual on what looked to be the aftermath of a battle. There were four large four-armed indigens on the ground unmoving, dead. Standing over them was a giant six-legged insectoid or whatever an insect was on that planet it sure looked like one. It roared rather viciously as if the battle just ended or it was just very cocky.

"Down!" Elma ordered alarmed and they all quickly took cover behind some large rocks so they were out of sight. They all took careful peeks over their cover though to look at the giant indigen. Hiro looked at his rifle and wondered how it would hurt that thing but he shrugged it off. He had a sword that had to work right?

"What's going on?" Lin asked with a small quiver in her voice. Elma remained calm though from what Hiro saw.

"How odd…a simus should be higher up the food chain compared to a cinicula. Yet here the roles are completely reversed…team...we have a tyrant on our hands…" Elma said grimly.

"A what?" Hiro asked, quietly. There was no doubt that it was trouble but he still wanted to know what it meant.

"A tyrant is a special monster that could either be different from the rest of their respective species or just be plain unique by itself. Regardless they're major threats against all BLADES even the pros have trouble with them…still why is it so close to the city," Lin said thoughtfully. Hiro let all the info sink into his head, he thought that they should just avoid it or call it in.

However two things hit his head. First he checked his comm to make sure and his suspicions were correct, the nav site they were after was practically right under the tyrant if he was any judge. The other thought was that he didn't like the idea of just leaving the thing for someone else who might not be up to the task, chances were that it would run into a less prepared team. He sighed at the thought, seems they would have to fight it. He looked over his teammates, if Elma was as good as everyone made her seem then there shouldn't be any problems and he could just assume Lin was good as well if she was on her team.

"It's a good thing we're more than just pros then. Come on Elma, we can't leave this thing so close to the city. I just read the report, this thing is moving way too close to the city for my liking," Lin said, speaking Hiro's mind. Elma looked a bit…apprehensive at the thought so Hiro added his own two cents.

"If we leave it here, a less experienced team could risk running into it. Besides it's right on top of the nav point," he said calmly.

"True…but are you up to this rook? You're not so experienced either?" Elma asked softly with some worry in her voice. Hiro took a breath and steeled himself, mustering up more of his courage.

"You yourself said that I was no ordinary fighter," Hiro replied with a calm voice. He thought he saw the traces of a smile from her lips but it was gone in an instant.

"Very well then, let's get ready, our objective is now to take out that tyrant before it endangers more BLADES," Elma said as she drew her dual guns. Hiro and Lin both readied their weapons and Hiro eyed Lin's minigun, wondering how a small girl could use something like that but he shrugged it off, his life had been going through a flux since he woke up.

"Ready?" Elma asked. Lin nodded and Hiro just pulled the slot of his rifle back. Then together they all charged from their cover towards the beast.

"Lin covering fire try hitting it in the eyes. Hiro go right, I'll go left, we'll focus on the legs!" Elma ordered quickly.

They all kept running together for a short time before Lin stopped and reved up her minigun, letting bullets pelt the beast's face. The tyrant let out a roar at the attack as Hiro and Elma both split up their respective ways as planned, opening fire on it from their angles. Hiro tried aiming for something that looked soft since most of his shots just bounced off the outer shell. He stopped shooting when he had to dodge one of it's barbeded legs. He fired on the little chink in between it's foot and leg but when he pulled the trigger he heard a dreaded click of an empty gun. He quickly dove to the side when the beast took another swipe at him with another of its legs. He summersaulted over it and unsheathed his longsword and slashed the leg, surprised that the blade cut through the shell but pleasantly so.

"That's why nothing beats a blade," he thought as he started slashing at the leg but the beast pulled back, being wary of him now apparently. Though in doing so it apparently left it open for Elma and Lin.

"Eat this!" Lin shouted and then a few mini missiles hit the thing's face but it seemed to just anger it. Then Hiro heard the fierce cry of Elma.

"Shadowstrike!" the next moment the beast seemed to get knocked off it's bearing and Hiro jumped at the opening. He stabbed his blade into it's leg and used it as leverage and pulled. He made a deep gash in the beast, green blood spilling out profusely. The beast roared in pain as it was beat on by the three but it was far from over.

"Hiro look out!" Lin screamed. Hiro barely saw it coming and brought his sword up to block the blow from one of the powerful legs. He blocked the strike but the sheer size and strength of the appendage sent him flying away from it. He grunted from the strike but reflexively he flipped in the air and landed on his feet and sank his sword into the ground to make him stop skidding. He glared up at the tyrant and it roared at him but his teammates were still there.

"Drum Roll!" Lin shouted as she sprayed the tyrant with another round of mini missiles but this time they had an effect. The beast lost balance and then Hiro saw Elma slash at the leg he injured, making the gash even deeper. The creature roared out in pain as it lost balance completely and fell onto the ground.

"Come on Hiro!" Elma ordered as she started hacking at the beast. Hiro immediately got up and ran towards the downed creature. He dove his sword through it's soft underbelly and twisted his blade around before he started trying to drag it around, making more of it's green blood spill out onto the ground and his boots. The beast was roaring a lot so it was hard to make out the other sounds so he turned to see that Elma had the same idea as he did. She nodded to him and started dragging her blades towards him and he got the plan and started doing the same.

"This is going to be a messy," Hiro said and Elma actually laughed softly.

"Won't be the first time," she said amused. Hiro smiled back and then finally when they were close enough Elma pulled her blades free, blood spurting out and then HIro grunted as he pulled his blade through to connect the two cuts they made.

Two things happened, one disgusting and the other amusing to Hiro and Elma anyway. The first thing that happened was that the cut seemed to burst open and like a waterfall, the tyrant's blood and guts drenched Elma and Hiro. They were not carried away by it or anything since they were both firmly planted in the ground. The tyrant seemed to cease it's movements and it's sounds died down, probably having died during the waterfall of gore from it's gut. Hiro and Elma looked themselves over and each other, they both started laughing. Despite the fact that they were literally covered in gore and guts, they both thought that the fact that it was green just made them look ridiculous!

"Hey guys nice work-whoa!" Lin exclaimed when she saw the gore covered duo. Hiro and Elma were still laughing and Lin couldn't help but join in. They were all tired from the ordeal so they couldn't help themselves really.

"So did I make the cut?" Hiro asked when he got himself back under control. Elma chuckled softly and punched his arm, making a sort of weird squishy sound due to the gore covering them.

"Come on let's get the probe installed so we can go home, I'm sure the Commander will welcome you with open arms and set you up with a division and full benefits," Elma said as they moved out of the gore they were still standing in.

"I got this guys," Lin said as she pulled a large device out of her backpack and set it up on the ground. Hiro watched enough to just know how to do it himself before he turned back to Elma.

"So…does this mean you guys can stop calling me rookie now?" he asked, which was followed by Elma and Lin's laughter.


	3. Impressions and The Talking Potato

I don't own Xenoblade

Hey everyone so I skipped the introduction of Commander Vandum since the chapter was getting long plus I didn't feel like going through the explanations of each division, I'm sure many people know what they are and if not then I'll hint it off during the story. This is not going to be an exact play by play of the game because otherwise I wouldn't be writing this. I'm keeping to the flow of the story with my own twists and turns. Plus I want to explore the character of the Avatar since in game it felt a little uh…wasted. Now then, time to get the last of the introduction chapters out of the way!

Now I am going to mention this now so no one gets the wrong idea down the line. If Hiro appears OP I am going off of the fact that only the Avatar, Elma and Nagi to my knowledge are at or are able to reach the final classes, while everyone else are at the classes before the final ones. Hiro isn't there yet but he will be soon. Anyway read, review, favorite or follow, please be gentle if you see something wrong! Also updates for this story might take awhile since this story is secondary to another one that I am currently working on.

Chapter 2: Impressions and the Talking Potato

Hiro stood at attention in the main training arena of BLADE. Along with him were several other BLADES assembled for training. Despite his obvious skill and technique he was still technically a new recruit so he had to go through the standard training like the others around him. When he came back from his test mission, none other than the Commander of BLADE himself, Vandham, greeted him. He was a rather…laid back kind of man. It was odd considering how cut and refined Secretary Nagi was.

The Commander praised them for the successful mission along with the fact that they killed a tyrant without clearance to engage. Elma and Lin both praised Hiro's abilities on the mission with Elma saying that he was indeed "not a rookie" much to Hiro's pleasure. She even requested to have him put on her team permanently; it was more of a demand really. Hiro felt embarrassed and bashful during the whole conversation. Elma stuck up for him and he did little for her still.

Vandham wasted no time in showing Hiro the divisions that BLADE held. Hiro was confused about how he would be on Elma's team if he was in a different division. Elma said that they were relatively free to do what they wanted unless given a specific mission for their group specifically. Apparently they were a special team of sorts though Hiro still thought it was weird. Regardless Hiro chose to join the Harriers due to their work of dealing directly with indigens and tyrants. Plus there was the fact that they worked closely with the Interceptors and he remembered that Gwin and Irina were there. The more people he knew the better.

Of course then came the news that he would have to go through a few days or so of basic training. He said that he couldn't break the rules for him and that got on Hiro's nerves since he just killed a tyrant but he bit his tongue. It annoyed him a little but it wasn't all-bad since Vandham said he would be done fast and that supposedly he would hopefully develop a reputation.

Though Hiro wasn't particularly positive about it since he had already caught a bit of a bad wind. He was placed in a class that was about to be finished and naturally all the other BLADEs didn't particularly like that even though they didn't know him long. The only friend he sort of made during the few days was Gwin, who was working in the class along with going out on missions as some sort of training he said. Hiro was surprised to see him but pleasantly so. He was looking forward to sparring though since that would shut his colleagues up.

"Hiro, you can sit down. You don't have to stand in position until the drill sergeant comes in," Gwin offered and Hiro smiled slightly at his friend's distressed voice. Their instructor wasn't in the area yet so the rest of the class were lazing about the arena, trying not to get in the way of the other Blades training. Hiro was the odd one out and was standing in position since he got there. Gwin was trying to get him to lighten up since the others in their group already didn't like him. Hiro was about to reply but before he could…

"Attention!" Hiro immediately straightened up and saluted as the booming voice of their instructor entered the arena. It was a bit alarming since the voice projected over the whole area. Gwin took up position next to Hiro and then there was a bunch of scuffling as the rest of their group struggled to get into position as their instructor came over.

"I saw that you maggots! Most of you were not in position!" their instructor yelled. Their instructor was a tall man who was getting into his older years apparently. Hiro was the only one who was as tall if not taller than the man. He was suited up in heavy combat armor, which Hiro wanted to be set up with and he had what looked like a spear in his hand. He was bald and he had a few scars adorning his head, an X scar was especially prominent along with a flame like tattoo on his forehead. His face was hard and his eyes even harder and filled with fire.

"All of you, give me fifty pushups!" he yelled. Hiro went down to the ground fast and began doing the pushups as ordered. He heard the groans and whines of his colleagues as they struggled to do the same. He counted the pushups in his head until he reached fifty and stood up in a salute like before he started, feeling a little warmer now. He also felt a little embarrassed since he finished before everyone else.

"Fifty sir!" Hiro said firmly. A few moments later Gwin came up and did the same though he had a pant in his voice. The instructor seemed a little surprised or it was just a glare, Hiro couldn't tell. After a few minutes and many groans, complaints and yells everyone else in the group was done. From what Hiro heard, apparently this man wasn't their usual instructor. Though Hiro thought he remembered that the classes usually had different instructors every time, apparently not for this one.

"Now you maggots must be wondering where your usual instructor is, well I observed his "instructing" the other day and it was a complete joke! You are to be soldiers, not pansies so I am here to make sure you are all deserving of the title Honor Cadet or you will be ejected!" he spat. He didn't speak any longer, probably wanting to let it all sink in before he spoke again.

"I am Boze Lowes of the Harriers but you will call me Master Lowes or Sir am I understood?!" Boze yelled.

"Sir yes sir!" Hiro and his group yelled back.

"Good, now then we shall start off with hand to hand sparring now that you are all warmed up. Evans, Hiro, up to the matt and everyone else watch and learn!" Boze ordered. Hiro contained his excitement since he wanted to see how good he was compared to other Blades.

"Yes sir!" Hiro and Gwin both answered as they stepped up to the training matt or ring.

"Hand to hand combat is the basics of any combatant. If you cannot master this, then you will never be able to handle weapons," Boze stated. Hiro and Gwin both got warmed up, loosening their joints before they shook.

"I look forward to seeing you perform," Hiro said respectfully and Gwin chuckled.

"Yeah, I'll give you a break since the Colonel seems to like you," Gwin said and Hiro got a little annoyed at that. A lot of people if not everyone knew that Elma had taken him into her team but they also didn't think he was much. Well everyone had to start somewhere, Hiro would just make sure people knew he was something, starting with Gwin.

"Alright, troopers ready?" Boze asked. Hiro took a stance, not exactly knowing what he was doing, just flowing with his body's muscle memory. He kept his left hand open and his right hand in a fist and kept his legs straight but separated a bit. He thought he saw Boze looked surprised but he was more focused on Gwin who took his own stance, something akin to a boxer stance.

"Fight!" Boze yelled.

Gwin started first, springing at Hiro with a straight punch, making Hiro's eyes widen at his speed as he dodged it barely. Hiro ducked under his strike and side stepped another one and jumped over him when he tried to kick him, he was fast but Hiro was faster. Gwin tried to deal another blow but Hiro moved his head to the left just enough for him to miss before he brought his left hand up to grab his arm. Gwin seemed surprised but before he could do anything, Hiro pulled him forward and delivered an uppercut to his jaw with his right hand and a knee to his stomach hard. Gwin gasped for breath and stumbled away from him but before he could recover, Hiro slugged him hard across the face, sending his head snapping to the left before he fell onto the ground. Hiro quickly pounced, pinning his arms down with one of his hands and his knee and held his right hand up, ready to deliver another strike to Gwin's surprised face.

"Yield?" Hiro asked.

"I yield," Gwin chuckled and Hiro got off of him and helped him up.

"Ha! Now that was a good fight, did the rest of you catch all that or were they both too fast for you?" Boze's booming voice cut in. The other Blades seemed quite…surprised to say the least.

"Everyone else split off into groups of two and start sparring and if I catch an slackers they'll have to run around the entire city fifty times!" Boze commanded and everyone started scrambling. Boze approached Hiro and Gwin and then he laughed.

"You two should be out doing missions instead of training with the grunts, you'll find much better training out there," he commented.

"I was required to pass the training here before I could do missions, sir," Hiro said.

"Lieutenant Irina said that I should train up here as well before missions, sir," Gwin said though not as crisp as Hiro. Boze just laughed and it made Hiro a little unnerved.

"Yes, yes I heard about why you're both here. In reality, Captain Elma herself requested that I evaluate her new member, here and Irina requested I do the same for you, Gwin," Boze said. Hiro was a bit surprised by that but he appreciated the fact that Elma sent a worthy instructor to evaluate him.

"You're both fine as far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't be stuck here anyway," Boze commented.

"While that may be true, there are still a few things I'd like to see," another voice beckoned. Hiro turned to see both Doug and Irina standing at the sidelines of the ring. They must've come in during the fight since he didn't notice them before.

"The guy's got talent but beating Gwin here isn't something to be too proud of. Especially if he's supposed to watch the Colonel's back," Irina said as she walked up and nudged Gwin who almost fell over as a point. Gwin said some kind of complaint and he gave Hiro a sort of embarrassed look.

"I heard you joined the Harriers, you think you have what it takes to take on all the Indigens out in Mira?" Doug asked as he approached. Hiro was intimidated by the man but he refused to show it and stood to face him fully, he was actually a little taller than Doug now that he was closer though Doug was a lot more built up. Hiro expected something along these lines especially since he's new.

"Elma seems to think so," Hiro answered back evenly. He noticed Boze and Gwin had backed off a bit as Irina stepped towards him. He also noticed that quite a few people were staring at them.

"The Colonel might think you're something but I haven't seen anything short of a few fancy moves. Sure you seem to have technique but I haven't seen anything worthy of backing the Colonel much less something that could make you stand up to indigens. I know you don't have any memories and people seem to think you were a soldier before but I don't remember ever hearing about you," Irina said as she crossed his arms. Hiro felt his anger start to seep in, feeling very insulted. He knew they were just testing him but it still got under his skin.

"I killed a tyrant already," he said and then Doug pushed him slightly, forcing him to take a few steps back, surprised by the man's strength.

"Because you had Elma and Lin backing you up, you could've just tagged along their success for all we know," Doug said and Hiro narrowed his eyes and his body tensed. Irina seemed amused but that changed to surprise when Hiro straightened up and pushed Doug back, making the man actually stumble backwards quite a few steps. The big man seemed surprised that someone actually moved him and that satisfied Hiro.

"Want to fight?" Hiro asked, letting his anger seep into his voice. He saw Irina smirk slightly and step back and Hiro barely had time to turn back to Doug before he had to dodge a punch meant for his face. He ducked under Doug's second strike and delivered a punch to his gut but it didn't slow Doug down at all so he moved for another punch but then he found his fist caught right in Doug's own. He looked up at Doug just to see his smug face before he threw him over his shoulder. Hiro hit the ground hard but he did it in a way where he could roll onto his knees.

"That all you got?" Doug asked. Hiro glared at the man and stood back up. It made sense, Doug had more muscle than him, he would have to rely more on his speed. Hiro took a small breath and closed in on him. If they thought he was done, they picked the wrong person to underestimate.

Hiro sidestepped Doug's punch and delivered a hard punch across the man's face, making his head snap to the side. Then he delivered a series of quick punches into the man's chest, making Doug cringe. Though Doug was far from done and delivered a back hand to Hiro, which he blocked but it staggered him enough for Doug to deliver his own punch to his gut. Hiro nearly lost his breath but he held strong and glared at Doug. He grabbed his arm before he could pull it away and delivered a elbow to his face, making the man curse in pain. Though before Hiro could get away, Doug grabbed him and took him to the ground. He reeled back and was about to deal a heavy blow but Hiro quickly reacted and kicked Doug in the face, making him stagger away. Hiro quickly jumped onto his feet and took his stance against him. Doug was rubbing his jaw softly and his face hardened as he took his own stance.

"Just got to keep moving…" Hiro thought as he took deep breaths. He tightened his fists as he watched Doug, waiting for him to strike. Doug's strikes certainly hurt but as long as he could avoid most of them he could win. He felt like Doug was still underestimating him, it was time to capitalize on that.

Doug sprung at him and instead of meeting him he twisted around him, catching him off guard. Then he delivered a kick to his backside, making him grunt and stumble. Doug turned and swung at him but Hiro stepped out the way and managed to tilt his head out of another however the next one came too fast for him to move out of the way. He brought his hand up and caught it, with a lot of effort but he still managed to stop it. Doug's eyes widened and Hiro thought he heard a few gasps from the onlookers. Hiro quickly pulled him in like he did to Gwin and delivered the same uppercut and knee to him.

"Ugh…" Doug grunted from the strike but before he could do anything, Hiro punched him across the face, hard and then he delivered another one with his other hand to the other cheek. In his daze, Doug tried to counter with an uppercut of his own but Hiro was able to avoid it easily and delivered a palm strike to his nose feeling a crack, making the man cry out in pain. He reached up to hold his bleeding nose but of course he still didn't go down and Hiro quickly punched him in the lower gut as hard as he could, knocking the air out of the more muscled man.

"ugh…" Doug gasped for breath as he fell to his knees. Hiro moved to strike him again but Doug held his hand up.

"Ok…ok…you win…" Doug gasped softly as tried to regain his breath, letting the blood from his nose fall onto the matt. He snapped his own nose back into place, making Hiro wince. He looked down at his hands and winced when he saw that his knuckles were red from punching so hard. Truly he got lucky in that fight, if Doug didn't underestimate him he wouldn't have won like that.

"Ha! Never seen someone get the better of Doug like that!" Hiro turned to see Boze laughing at the display. Gwin and many of the onlookers looked quite surprised and the other onlookers looked jealous. Irina seemed to be regarding him in a different light now, a more cautious one to be exact.

"Truly there is no doubt that you are ready to fight. I have never seen anyone stop Doug's strength with their own. Elma has good eyes," Boze commented as Doug finally stood up, still trying to stop his bleeding. Hiro felt a little embarrassed, he didn't want the attention exactly, he just wanted to prove himself worthy of being Elma's teammate.

"Indeed, he's better than I thought. You're no rookie I'll give you that…" Irina said as she walked over to him. Hiro thought she was going to shake his hand or something but he was caught off guard when she attacked him. He barely had time to dodge her punch. She was faster than Gwin and more precise. He caught her fist and threw her over his shoulder but she easily maneuvered herself to land on her feet.

"You're quick too…good…maybe you are worthy of watching the Colonel's back…" Irina said as she brought her fists up. Hiro felt his anger spike for some reason when she spoke about his ability to protect Elma.

He wondered why he got so angry when people questioned his ability to watch Elma's back. Sure he got angry when they questioned his skills but it was never quite as bad as if they questioned his ability to protect Elma. He could usually remain calm but he couldn't when it came to Elma. For some reason he felt like strangling them. His heartbeat quickened at the thought of his…savior the one who gave him a new life…No! It was too soon to think like that. It embarrassed him that he was apparently like a teen with a crush, though from what Elma told him that wasn't far from the truth. He shook his thoughts off and focused on the fight.

"I would say that I am…considering she picked me…not you…" Hiro threw back, not being able to help himself. He was tired of being pushed around. Irina glared at him for that remark and her fists tightened.

"You little…I don't know where the Colonel found you, but you barely know her! Don't act like you've known her for as long as I have! I bet you'll screw up and get her hurt or worse!" Irina shouted back.

Whatever Hiro did to try to take his thoughts off his apparent crush on Elma, they shattered at that remark. How dare she think he would let Elma get hurt! His anger boiled and his eyes narrowed at Irina. The blonde gave him an arrogant smirk since she knew she got under his skin. Whatever reserves he had were thrown out the window, if Irina wanted to fight then she'd get one.

Hiro lunged at her, making her eyes widen but she still dodged him. Hiro swung at her again but she ducked under his punch and delivered a blow to his stomach, making him wince. Then she followed it up with a blow to his cheek, making his head snap to the side. Except when she tried to capitalize on his stagger he reacted faster and caught her fist in his hand. Irina's eyes widened but before she could do anything, he pulled her arm, locking it and punched her in the gut, making her gasp. Then he threw her onto the ground roughly. She rolled on the ground but she didn't get up right away. Her eyes locked on his with a glare, which he returned.

"So that's how it is…" he thought he heard her say. She was holding her stomach as she panted softly, trying to get her breath back and Hiro rubbed his cheek softly and cracked his neck. All thoughts of ease or arrogance left Irina's eyes, she took him seriously now, good. A certain respect seemed to go between them and when they got ready to go at it again, they were cut off.

"Hiro!" Hiro and Irina were both taken out of their zone when Gwin interrupted them. Hiro then noticed the ringing of a comm.

"It's your comm!" Gwin called as he tossed him the bag he had with him. He kept his armor on but he put his weapons and his comm in the pack since it was supposed to just be training. He quickly fished out his comm and flicked it on. The face of Commander Vandham came up on screen.

"Their you are! I was wondering where you were! I expected you to be cleared from your class already," the booming voice shot through, making Hiro cringe slightly.

"Sorry sir! I was…held up…" Hiro said firmly. Vandham actually laughed, making Hiro a little unnerved.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard about it already. Come back to your barracks, I have a mission for you get ready and get over here, consider yourself on the clock," Vandham said before he cut off communication before Hiro could even reply. He sighed and looked at Irina.

"Sorry, duty calls…" he said sheepishly and Irina actually laughed.

"Don't worry about it, we can fight again another time. I'll see you in the field some time, trooper," she said and Hiro smiled at the sign of respect for his abilities. He reached into his bag and pulled his sword out and placed it in it's usual place and pulled his rifle out and pulled the slot back.

"Whenever your mission's done and you're on free time, feel free to join any of us," Irina said before she walked off, a jittering Gwin in toe. Doug and Boze gave him a wave off and Hiro had a feeling he'd get to know them fairly well before he ran off. Hiro ran off out of the training arena, no one got in his way or tried to stop him, he had a job to do. Though on his way out he did notice a few of the people who watched his fights were still watching him but he paid them little mind and kept moving.

A few minutes later

"Ah there you are," Elma said as she eyed Hiro, who ran all the way to the barracks, ready to fight. She had waited outside of their barracks for him to arrive.

"Ma'am," Hiro saluted her and Elma actually laughed, making Hiro question if he just had no sense of humor since everyone else had laughed except for him that day.

"No need to call me that Hiro. I may be your captain but I'm also your friend. Besides it's weird hearing you call me that," Elma said with a gentle smile and Hiro dropped his salute though he stood a bit awkwardly. Since he was no longer in middle combat and his anger had left him, his…feelings for Elma were back on his mind. He averted his gaze from her blue eyes, feeling heat rise to his cheeks.

"How can I know feelings but not know my own past?" Hiro berated himself, little did he know that Elma being patient instead of getting impatient. In fact her eyes actually lit up in amusement.

"Hiro?" Hiro felt her put her hand on his shoulder and his blush worsened but his green eyes found her blue ones since he didn't want to be disrespectful.

"Don't be afraid to think of me as your… friend, Hiro. You can trust me as well, I wouldn't have brought you into my team if I thought you weren't someone I could trust…or someone with skill," she said gently. Hiro felt his face heat up again and it was a bit amusing to him considering she had to reach up a bit to reach his shoulder. Still though he was touched by her declaration, it made most of his inferiorities he got from Irina, Doug and Gwin take a hike.

"Thank you Elma…you…you've been very kind to me…more than I could ask for. I just wish I knew who I was, then I could just…" he didn't know how to finish really. His eyes went downcast when he thought about his unknown past. He knew his past was colorful but he didn't know anything about details or anything at all really. He felt very alone…

"Hiro, don't worry about that…I'll be there to help you out, remember that. Now come on, the Commander is going to think you beat up the entire arena if you take any longer," Elma said way too seriously, making Hiro wonder if that was a joke or not. He didn't question it and followed Elma into the barracks. Lin was already waiting for them with Vandham at the table.

"Ah there you are, I was beginning to wonder where you were. From what I heard, it sounds like you were bullying the entire arena," Vandham said with his usual demeanor. Hiro blushed in embarrassment at that. He didn't realize word had traveled so fast from the arena. Fortunately they didn't stay on that for long.

"Alright listen, one of our teams just went dark, Nelson's team to be exact," Vandham said, his usual carefree attitude replaced with the seriousness befitting his position.

"Nelson? He's from my division, the pathfinders," Elma said.

"Gone dark? How? Indigens?" Lin asked.

"No idea, they just went dark randomly. They had a skell too so if it's an attack then it must've something really big or…" Vandham trailed off, though it wasn't hard to guess.

"Something smart…" Elma finished and Vandham nodded grimly.

"They were supposed to just be scouting new areas, so if something's wrong I want to send our best to investigate," Vandham said. Hiro felt a little pride swell in him since the Commander considered Elma's team the best so that had to mean he thought he was at least competent right?

"Right, team let's move out," Elma commanded strictly. Lin and Hiro didn't say a thing and just followed after Elma. The Commander didn't stop them and just laughed. Lin and Elma didn't speak and Hiro mirrored that, not doing anything but preparing himself for the things to come. He hardly paid attention to their journey to the gate. It wasn't until they were already outside of the gate, trekking through the plains that he was jogged out of his mind.

"So we heard that you caused quite the…show in the arena," Lin said and Hiro felt embarrassed.

"I don't think so…" Hiro said softly.

"You took down Gwin in a minute and you managed to stop a strike from Doug with just your strength. I call that impressive, no one has been able to stop a strike from Doug with just their own strength," Elma said a bit fondly and Hiro blushed again.

"Yeah and they say that you and Irina looked like you were going to tear each other's heads off," Lin added and Hiro chuckled softly, did he really look that mad at her?

"I was surprised about that, usually no one gets as hotheaded as Irina," Elma said, amused.

"I think you would have lost, Hiro. Irina's tough, almost as tough as Elma they say and I've seen her in action to prove it," Lin said. Hiro was a little surprised about that since he didn't think anyone was close to Elma's level. No wonder why Irina seemed so dead set on testing him.

"I don't know Lin, our prodigy here seems to surprise everyone when they think little of him. I think he would have won," Elma said, supporting Hiro and making him blush.

"Speaking of which, Lin I think we should give him hi-" before Elma could finish her thought and maybe embarrasses Hiro more, something far more disturbing happened.

"Look! Isn't that a skell?" Hiro pointed towards a more mountainous path and sure enough on the path was what looked like a skell, a wreckage of one anyway.

"Come on!" Elma ordered as she drew her guns. Lin and Hiro weren't far behind and ran after her quickly. Elma got there first and started looking over the wreckage. Lin pulled her comm out to scan the area and Hiro turned to watch their surroundings just in case.

"Definitely destroyed during combat but look at the damage…these aren't from claws or teeth…they're from lasers and plasma and they were precise…" Lin said grimly. Hiro pulled the slot of his rifle and raised it, ready to unload in anything that moved.

"That means that there's something else here on the planet that we weren't aware of…something intelligent and possessing technology," Elma said skeptically. Hiro looked down towards the ground and saw quite a few bullet casings and even a few weapons on the ground. He noticed them before but the skell took his attention away. He knelt down and picked up one of the casings and ran it over in his gloved fingers. It was still warm, not hot like it was just fired but there was still heat coming from it. He heard one of the others come to him, Elma knelt down next to him.

"What is it Hiro?" Elma asked as she observed what he was doing. He handed her the casing and she held it in her hand.

"It's still warm," Elma said thoughtfully as she ran it over her fingers before she started examining some of the others.

"Yeah…these bullets were fired recently," Hiro said as he picked up a spear off the ground or rather half of a spear, the half with the spear tip. He looked at the part where it was broken from it's other half. It was a clean cut like a blade or a laser cut it. He looked at the tip and saw what he assumed to be blood on it. The blood was a sort of purple color.

"Look at this, Elma. This spear was cut clean by something like a blade and look at this blood," Hiro said as he held the spear to her. Elma pulled her comm out and scanned the blood on the spear.

"It's not from any indigen on our database that's for sure…and that definitely is a clean cut," Elma said thoughtfully. She took the spear from him and examined it.

"Definitely some form of a laser or energy weapon cut this," Elma agreed with his observations. Then she looked around, skeptically.

"This begs the question then…where are the bodies? There are small traces of blood but no bodies or remains from being eaten…or large pools of blood…" Elma commented. Hiro looked around and found that she was correct, though he noticed something, there was purple and red blood around but there was a third kind of blood around, some form of blue hue, was that even blood? Before he could question it though, he heard movement, barely. Elma tensed next to him and their eyes, met, knowing what was happening before Lin said anything.

"Guys look!" Lin shouted. Elma and Hiro jumped up quickly to face the new arrivals. There were five in total, coming from both behind and in front of them. They were definitely intelligent, they moved in an organized way that a feral animal wouldn't; they must have been lying in wait. Hiro lifted his rifle up and aimed it at one of them but Elma held her hand up to him.

"Hello there, we are inhabitants of Earth. We're seeking refuge here on Mira, this site was the last location of one of our teams before they went missing. Do you have any idea what happened?" Elma asked, diplomatically. Hiro lowered his rifle a bit but he was still tense. He saw, Elma's hand itching towards her gun, giving him some relief. She wasn't totally a slave to making nice.

The aliens or xenos as NLA would call them were all very big, which was the first thing Hiro noticed. They were all a good deal taller and bigger than all three of them. They were geared up in some sort of armor, wielding weapons that glowed with some form of energy. The patches of skin they could see were either a purple or blue-violet color. Masks obscured their faces but their heads had some sort of squid likeness to them. Of course the thing that stuck out the most to Hiro at the moment was the part that they were aiming those advanced looking weapons at them!

"Indeed…filthy Earth Aliens should not be here…they were carted off to be interrogated before execution!" one of the Xenos bellowed in a deep, morphed voice. Hiro immediately raised his gun again and the whirring from behind him told him that Lin had done the same.

"Wait! Are you saying you did this? Why?" Elma asked, still not drawing her weapons, in fact she wasn't edging towards her gun anymore and seemed to be trying even harder to get them to lower their weapons. Hiro edged forward so he could push her if need be.

"Because Earth Aliens are a blight that must be extinguished and the Prone will see it done!" right as he finished, they opened fire. Hiro pushed Elma aside, tanking some of the energy blasts before he dove to the side himself. He clenched his teeth in pain while his armor took the hits; it still burned through a little. He heard the whirring sound of Lin's minigun before gunfire started spewing from it, peppering the xenos.

"Get up Hiro!" Hiro shook himself out of his pain as he saw Elma was returning fire from behind a rock. He quickly got up and ducked behind the rock with Elma. He saw that Lin was dealing with the group of Xenos to their back, easily suppressing them. They just had to deal with the group at their front.

"You alright?" Elma asked as she touched his arm. Hiro looked down to see that his armor had a few burn marks on it from the blasts he tanked. It still burned a little but he'd deal with it.

"I'll live," he answered as he readied his rifle. Elma looked ashamed but she nodded.

"Ready then?" she asked. When he nodded she raised three fingers from one of her guns and slowly brought them down. As soon as they last one went down they both sprung. They both peeked out of their cover and returned fire.

Hiro switched his gun into burst fire before he took aim and squeezed the trigger. His gun fired three rounds, all hitting the target. The first two bounced off the armor but the third went through. The Xeno just roared in anger though and kept firing. Hiro moved back behind the rock and covered his eyes when a blast skimmed the side of his cover. He looked to his left to see Elma opening with both her guns in full auto. Blasts flew by her, she didn't even flinch and kept firing. Before Hiro got caught up he peaked around to see one of the Xeno's had fallen to his knee, holding his side. Hiro quickly took aim at it's head and pulled the trigger. The three rounds hit true, all three of them punching through the armor. The Xeno fell back onto the ground, unmoving. Hiro quickly got back behind his cover and checked his ammo.

"Nice shot," Hiro turned to his left again to see a slight smile of Elma's face. He would have blushed if they weren't under fire.

"Thanks…I prefer close combat still…" Hiro replied. Elma actually chuckled before she replied.

"I do too…" she replied and then they both noticed the lack of fire coming there way. Elma held up her guns and nodded to him. Hiro nodded back and they both peaked around to fire again but Hiro was met with an energy pike coming at him. He quickly used his rifle to bat it away, getting it cut in half at the same time…

"Damn…" Hiro sprung away before the Xeno could come after him again. He went to draw his sword but the Xeno didn't give him time and lunged after him. Hiro quickly moved to the side and grabbed the shaft of the spear with his hands. Before the Xeno could react Hiro managed to wrestle it away from its grasp. The Xeno made a surprised sound and then Hiro quickly twisted around and impaled him with his own spear. There was little resistance as the spear went right through the Xeno's armor.

"Damn…earth…aliens…" Hiro drove the spear through the Xeno harder, driving it further through him. Blood spilled from the wound, onto the ground and with a grunt Hiro pushed him over, pulling the spear out of the Xeno as he did, blood spurting out as he did. He let the spear fall of his hands as the Xeno slumped over onto the ground.

"Hiya!" Hiro turned to see Elma easily subdue the third Xeno with her dual blades. She turned to him and he could have sworn she turned her gaze away from his in embarrassment.

"Hiro look out!" Lin's voice came in. Hiro turned around just to see one of the Xeno's Lin was fighting thrust a energy pike towards his chest.

"Hiro!" he heard Elma cry out. Then there was a dull silence as Hiro reacted to the incoming attack.

"What?!" the Xeno shouted in surprise. Hiro had reflexively grabbed the pike just below the energy blade, stopping it before it could pierce his chest. Hiro's eyes widened at the reflex as well. The energy blade was literally only a few inches from his face.

"Impossible!" The Xeno cried. Hiro didn't give him time to say more though, his mind kicked back into gear. He kicked the Xeno in the chest, hard, surprised to see that he had enough strength to make the larger being stumble away. Then he reached up for his sword and unsheathed it from his back. The Xeno tried to retaliate but Hiro was faster. He already slashed through the Xeno's chest, easily cutting through the armor and through the flesh and muscle.

"Augh!" The Xeno fell to its knees as his purplish blood poured from the deep gash in his side. Hiro didn't give him much time to feel the pain though and quickly sliced the head clean off with ease, purple blood spilling out of the stump where his head was. Hiro felt a little unnerved that he could take a life that simply, he didn't even hesitate and he felt little remorse. Who was he before he lost his memories? What kind of a warrior was he? He looked towards Lin as she mowed down the remaining Xeno's with her mini gun, cutting them down like weeds practically. Suddenly someone touched his arm and he flinched as he rounded on the offender, blade readied. He wrapped his arm around the offender and leveled his blade but he stopped when he saw silver hair.

"I guess…you're ok…" Elma joked darkly with a small smile. His blade was leveled at her throat and his eyes widened. He almost beheaded his Captain! And…his savior and…no bad thoughts! His blade wasn't just at her throat, he had his arm wrapped around her back and had unconsciously pulled her against him. He blushed at the realization and froze.

"Good reflexes…" Elma commented as she pushed his sword away from her throat. Hiro immediately retracted his arm and shook his head.

"Sorry…" he said weakly.

"No need, its good you have those, it means you know what you're doing," Elma said softly but he didn't turn, if he did then he would have noticed the sly grin on her face. He was more preoccupied with Lin, who had fallen to her knees. He saw her shoulders sagged and they were shaking in silent sobs no doubt.

"Lin?" Elma asked before he could. She ran up to the girl quickly and Hiro followed after, quickly.

"Why, Elma? Why did we have to kill them?" Lin asked, sadly. Hiro winced at the sound of her voice, it sounded so unnatural for the usually chipper girl. Elma knelt down next to her and Lin embraced her, tightly, burying her face into her chest. Elma sighed sadly and wrapped her arms around her comfortingly.

"I'm sorry Lin…" Elma said softly as she stroked her hair gently. Hiro sighed sadly and turned his gaze away towards the corpses of the Xenos they killed.

Whoever or whatever he was or did for a profession he knew one thing now. He was hardened by battle in whatever life he held and it had left marks on him even though he didn't remember it. He could kill someone and not blink; he could get on with life despite how insensitive that sounded. He could have blood spilled on him and not flinch as evident by how he looked down at his hand to see it covered in the purplish blood of the Xeno's. In fact he felt more satisfied that they were dead. He didn't know if that was a good thing though. Elma was the same obviously if a bit more ideological.

Lin was much different from both of them though; she was only thirteen, still a child by all means. Sure she could fight, sure she could kill an Indigen like a grex no problem. Except this was different, Indigens were beasts or animals despite what people might think and it was far easier to kill something so feral and wild. Those Xeno's they killed were far different; they were intelligent beings like humans. Sure they tried to kill them but still. Lin had obviously never killed a sentient being like that before, sure she did it but that was adrenaline and fight or flight instincts, now that they wore off she could think about it.

"I know I had to but why…they would have…they would have done it if I hadn't…" Lin sniffed.

"It's ok Lin…it's ok to feel bad. I would be worried if you didn't," Elma soothed. She gave Hiro a look as if asking him to help out and he shrugged since he had no idea what to do. Sure he wanted to help but what could he say? He doubted he could just say be a soldier and toughen up. Elma gave him a pleading look and he sighed as he knelt down next to them.

"Lin…I'm sorry…you shouldn't have been the one to pull the trigger, Elma or I should have done it. I…gods I'm bad at this…there's nothing I can say to make it seem justified or right but as long as you don't enjoy it, you aren't doing wrong," Hiro said softly as he placed a hand on Lin's shoulder. Lin turned to him and pulled him into the hug much to his surprise.

"Thanks guys…" she sniffed as she held them both tightly. Hiro frowned and went ahead and tried to hold her comfortingly.

"You can go back to NLA if you can't handle this Lin…" Elma offered softly but Lin shook her head. She raised her head and her eyes were red from crying but she looked determined.

"No…Nelson and the others need help and I won't drag you two down," she said with resolve. Elma and Hiro nodded, they would have to try to take the brunt of the killing for Lin's sake.

"If you're sure…" Elma said softly as they all stood.

"I'm sure…come on, they said they took them to their base, it can't be far," Lin said as she picked her minigun back up. Hiro would have smiled if the subject was more pleasant. He had a mission to focus on though and speaking of which he groaned in annoyance.

"They broke my gun…" Hiro sighed, the damn things were useless! Lin let out a small laugh and that made his annoyance die down immediately. He went to one of the downed Xeno's and picked up there weapon. The gun was easily bigger than his assault rife but he hefted it with ease. It gave off a green glow at the barrel and he was trying to figure out where the ammo meter on it was. He thought it was the little bar on the side of it. Better than nothing after all.

"Well they won't be needing it…" Elma commented evenly. He shrugged as they made their way further up the path they were following. It didn't take long for them to find the base the Xeno's spoke of though. They were tipped off to it when they heard the sound of heavy machinery.

"Down!" Elma commanded as they all hugged the rock formation they were walking against. Hiro peeked around the corner to see there was indeed a base there. How did they not detect it? Was their mapping of the area really that bad still? The base was practically at NLA's doorstep!

"What do you see?" Elma asked quietly. Hiro focused again as he took in the entrance to the base. There was a lot of heavy cover around the entrance but there was only two guards. He noticed a sort of walker type mech walk by inside the base though. He moved back into cover and turned to his team.

"There's two guards at the entrance, more inside for sure and some kind of mech walker," Hiro explained. Elma nodded before she thought for a moment.

"I don't want to get into a full fight, they might just kill Nelson and his team if we're not careful," Elma said.

"So we sneak in then?" Lin asked. Elma nodded as she took a look at the entrance, now that would have been fine with Hiro except she didn't bother asking him to move. She placed a hand on his chest and leaned over him, pressing herself against him a bit too close for comfort, which did nothing for his embarrassment. He just told himself she was doing that to avoid sticking out as she peered over. Hiro ignored the look Lin was giving him.

"There's a cliff on the far side, we'll scale it so we can insert into the base better," Elma explained. She moved away from Hiro and pointed towards the rocks that led to the cliff, they would have to go behind the cliff so they wouldn't be seen climbing up.

"Come on then, quick," Elma commanded as they made their way to the place she saw. They had to be careful so the guards at the entrance wouldn't see them as they crept their way from cover to cover as they got behind the mountain cliff.

"Ok, let's climb up," Elma said as she started scaling the wall. Hiro and Lin shared a look.

"If you want, we can send a rope down if you don't want to climb," Hiro offered but Lin huffed and started climbing the mountain after Elma. Hiro chuckled softly and started going after them. He outpaced Lin easily and reached the top after Elma. He kneeled over the cliff though to help Lin up when she finally reached the top. She was panting slightly but she was fine, Hiro admired her determination to keep up with them.

"We can insert into the base easily from here," Elma spoke up as she was prone against the edge of the cliff. Hiro and Lin did the same as they crawled up to see the base.

"How did we not notice this?" Lin asked. Hiro couldn't help but agree, bad information or not, how could they miss an entire military base and force to occupy it? There were dozens of Xenos running around, armed to the teeth. There were plenty of armored walkers around the area as well.

"No point in worrying about it now. We need to figure out where they're holding our people," Elma cut in. Hiro sighed and looked around the base but he frowned since he didn't notice anything that would tip him off…until he saw it.

"Look there," Hiro pointed towards a large building near the back. There were two Xeno's pushing a human into the building. That had to be one of the missing Pathfinders.

"Let's move, we might not have much time," Elma said quickly. Fortunately the cliff they were on overlooked the entire base so it was simple for them to reach the back of the base and climb their way back down to the base. They could repel down but Elma told them not to risk the sound, they would use them on their way out. Their entrance was completely unnoticed and there were no guards at the building, they probably never expected people to make it that far. They stacked up at the door, Elma took the left and Hiro took the right. Lin went behind Hiro, leveling her minigun.

"Ok…let's crack this thing open…" Elma said lowly as she pressed what must have been the open switch. The door slid open and they stormed in right away. Hiro raised his new plasma gun up at the figures in the room and the whirring of Lin's minigun was reassuring should there be a fight.

"Freeze!" Elma shouted. Hiro noted that the entire place was empty save for three Xenos and…his eyes widened as he saw a team of humans on the ground, unmoving.

"Nelson…" Lin said softly. Hiro's gaze hardened and he was about to start shooting but Elma held her hand out to him again, seriously she was going to get herself killed with this!

"You…why would you do that, our people have done nothing to you…yet you kill them in cold blood…" Elma asked softly but Hiro could hear the underlying anger in her voice. The three Xenos turned to them and leveled their weapons at them. At that point Hiro realized the one in the middle was even bigger than his companions by at least two feet and the others were already big!

"Fortune did not smile on them today…you earth aliens do not belong on this planet," the Xeno spoke in a deep voice but unlike the other Xeno's they met he spoke with a certain fluency while the others sounded more jagged and forced.

"You seem to sound more refined than the others, are you in charge?" Elma asked.

"I am called Glennar and I lead this team…you earth aliens should surrender…" he spoke, Hiro scoffed and aimed his gun right at his head.

"I am Elma and I am the leader of this team. Why are you doing this? If this is your planet I apologize for coming in unannounced but we had no choice, our ship was shot down and crash landed here. We hoped we would be able to get our friends back peacefully but…" Elma explained but Hiro saw her hands shaking in anger.

"Peaceful? No…the only things we Prone promise you earth aliens is a swift death!" Glennar spat. Elma's eyes narrowed and she reached for her gun as Hiro pulled the trigger of his new gun, it released a green blast but the kick was harder than he though so his shot missed.

"Go!" Elma commanded, the battle had begun. Lin opened fire on the Prone but they scrambled out of the way and dove behind crates or computers for cover and it was hard for her to maneuver in such a closed space. Hiro finally got his sights on a Xeno charging after Lin and he managed to hit his side but he blew through it. Lin could have shredded him but Hiro saw her eyes widen and she hesitated to point her stream towards the Prone. He took advantage of that and slammed Lin into the wall. She cried out in pain and Hiro threw his gun at the Prone's head before he could hurt the downed Lin. He preferred his sword anyway!

"Get away from her!" Hiro roared as he drew his sword and slashed at the Prone, forcing him away from Lin. He held his sword protectively in front of him as he stood guard over the downed Lin. The Prone pulled out a pike and tried to impale him but he deflected it easily. He took a step forward and cleaved a clean stroke into the Prone's side. The Prone backed away before he could cut too deep though and held the gash he made.

"Filthy earth alien!" he spat at him. Hiro's eyes just narrowed as he hefted his sword again. The Prone made another attack at him but he slashed his sword down at the last moment, cutting the beam part of the pick off. Then he stepped forward and slashed across the Prone's chest, creating another cleave in the enemy before he moved the side and made and upwards slash, succeeding in cutting the Prone's neck.

"Rising Blade…" he said slowly as he watched the Prone grasp at his slit throat. His purple blood seeped through his hands as he gasped for breath. Hiro was merciful though and ended it with a stab through the heart or where he assumed the heart was. Hiro looked up at Lin who was shaking again as she stared at the Prone he just ended.

"Damn…should have forced her to go home…" he thought. He turned to see Elma was fighting another prone with her blades, easily holding the edge over her opponent. The Prone was using a sword of energy sword to try and slash at her but she easily deflected his slash to the side before she made two cross cuts on his sides. The Prone roared in anger even though he was bleeding now and tried to get her again but Elma easily moved behind him and stabbed both her swords into his back. The Prone made some sort of gasping noise before Elma kicked him to the ground, freeing her now bloody blades.

"Hiro!" Lin shouted. Hiro turned back to see Glennar holding his gun at him and it was spinning like some sort of fusion between a rifle and a minigun. Except he wasn't aiming at him, he was aiming at Lin…who was still cemented to the wall she was rammed into.

"Damn…" Hiro immediately ran for Lin as fast as he could. He picked her up even though he was now in the middle of plasma fire. He bit back the pained yell as a few blasts hit his back, making sure he covered Lin. His armor would take the brunt of the damage hopefully, it was made for bullets not energy. Regardless he toughed it out and moved out of fire, with Lin in his arms safe.

"Hiro!" Lin gasped as he placed her down behind a console. He heard Glennar roar in pain and looked up to see Elma had gotten a few slashes in while he was shooting at them.

"Hiro…I'm sorry…" Lin clutched onto his arm but he shook his head, ignoring the slight pain in his back. She looked like she was about to cry again but he had to reassure her.

"It's alright, I understand…just stay here," Hiro ordered softly. He pried her off of him and drew his sword again.

He took a small breath as he ran into the fray to aid Elma. Glennar had brought out a giant two-sided axe as his melee weapon, except he was using it with only one hand. He was fending Elma off fairly well, using his brute force to outdo her quick fencing and jabs. Hiro tried to attack his back but as if he had eyes on the back of his head. Glennar brought his axe to bear and swiped at him, knocking his slash to the side. Hiro ducked under the swing of his fist though and scrambled away as the axe embedded itself where he was. At that point though Elma had gotten another quick attack at him, making him hiss more in anger than pain.

"Earth Scum!" Glennar roared as he tried to strike Elma but she easily avoided the attack. Hiro moved in for his attack, Glennar swung at him with his axe but Hiro was ready this time. He ducked the axe and slashed at the wrist of the hand, holding the axe. Glennar roared in pain as Hiro backed off. Glennar almost dropped his axe but he grabbed it with his other hand and hefted it just as easily as before. He forced Elma away from him but she wouldn't be pushed back this time. Similar to Hiro, she dodged at the last moment and slashed open his other wrist. This time the axe fell from his grasp.

"Die…" Hiro charge forward while his enemy was focused on Elma again and slashed the back of both his knees, blood spilling out of the wounds. The big Prone fell to his knees and he saw Elma slash his shoulders open, preventing him from using his arms now. Glennar was down now, helpless. Hiro moved in front of him with Elma but he kept his sword raised to give the final blow just in case.

"Now then…explain…why do you hate us so much?" Elma demanded, diplomacy was gone, this was an interrogation. She even placed her blade right at his throat. Glennar made a weak laughing sound even though he was in pain.

"Foolish earth aliens…you are a blight on the universe…we will purge you to the last child…your city will burn…" he laughed. Hiro's eyes narrowed and Elma glared as she raised her blade to finish it but she didn't have to. A shot rang out and a bullet went right through Glennar's head, ending him. Elma and Hiro were still shorter than he was at his knees so the bullet went over their heads. They both got out of the way as he fell to the ground. Hiro looked up to see Lin holding a pistol in her hand but her hands weren't shaking and she looked sad to put it lightly but she wasn't crying.

"That's it? Hate? How sad…" Lin sighed. Hiro and Elma shared a worried look before they went to their friend. She shook her head though when they approached.

"It's ok…I understand now…I won't freeze up again…" Lin said as she opened the door to the building and stepped outside before they could stop her. Hiro sighed and wiped the blood off his sword before he placed it on his back. He turned to see Elma checking the bodies.

"Are they…" she shook his head before he could finish, he already knew the answer. He sighed as they both left the building, they couldn't carry all the bodies back, their presence was probably already known. They left the building and found Lin waiting for them outside with her usual chipper attitude, sort of. Hiro could see a certain light in her eyes that wasn't present anymore, like something had been snuffed out inside her for good.

"Everyone set? We should get out of here before more show up," Elma asked. Hiro felt her place her hand on his back, no doubt looking at the energy burns he took but he didn't even feel the pain anymore, the armor held up. He would have to get something new soon. He played a little too close and rough for this set.

"I'll be fine, we should go to the cliff soon, I'm sure there's a patrol on the way," Hiro said as he shrugged her concerns off. Elma nodded but before they could leave there was a banging on the crate next to the building.

"Yes! Tatsu want to leave!" they heard. Hiro stared at the crate and shared a look with Elma and Lin.

"Another Xeno?" Lin asked.

"Hiro?" Elma asked. Hiro went up to the crate and pulled his sword out. If it was hostile they'd deal with it, but it was worth checking out. He nodded to his teammates and lifted his sword. He opened the crate and stepped back, weapon raised. Though he was a little dumbfounded since there was just a bunch of…vegetables in the crate. Suddenly they all popped out of the crate and Hiro raised his blade again as his teammates readied their weapons. One of the…potatoes was wearing some form of clothing and he had a backpack on like he was a far traveler. He, Hiro was assuming was a little pudgy looking, he had two stubby legs and arms. Then he had these…wing looing things as well. He grabbed what looked like swirly glasses and placed them on.

"Wonderful! Tatsu is free! Thank you new friends for saving Tatsu from nasty Prone!" he announced, practically broadcasting their presence.

"Quiet!" Hiro chided and Tatsu jumped slightly.

"Sorry…Tatsu forget we still in Prone stronghold. They have no respect for Planet Mira, plus they keep terrorizing Nopon…" Tatsu said quietly now. Hiro put his sword away now, this…Nopon was obviously no real threat. He crossed his arms and looked at Elma and Lin. Lin shrugged and Elma nodded before he turned back to Tatsu.

"Listen…Tatsu right…so you're saying the Prone are not from Mira? But your people are native here right?" Hiro asked.

"Yes, Prone are nasty vile invaders, them and their nasty friends. Will new friends protect Tatsu?" Tatsu asked.

"I guess…Elma?" Hiro asked.

"Well, I suppose he could help us out with gathering information. What do you think Lin?" Elma asked.

"Sure, we could always just eat him if he turns out to be useless after all," Lin said and Hiro laughed.

"W-what!? Tatsu is Tatsu not food!" Tatsu stammered but at that point they heard the roaring of the prone.

"Crap! Grab the Potato and run!" Hiro shouted. Lin picked up Tatsu like a teddy bear and ran, while Elma and Hiro followed after her. Certainly a interesting mission indeed.

 **Team Barracks**

"Damn it…so we lost Nelson and his team after all. Still, the fact that now we know that we're not the only ones new to this rock is even more concerning. The Director is going to love this…" Commander Vandham sighed. The rest of the team was around the barracks. Gwin, Irina and Doug had arrived as well to see how they were since they arrived way past their expected return time.

"They made it pretty clear how much they wanted to kill all humans," Elma said, she was sitting at one of the tables, with Hiro. Irina and Gwin sat across from them and Doug stood at the counter table with Lin and the…potato, Tatsu.

"Very…" Hiro added as he pulled his combat vest off. He looked at the back and sighed since the entire back was covered in burns, he shook his head and dumped the useless thing onto the table. He rolled his shoulders, satisfied that there wasn't any lasting pain.

"Glad you three made it back with no issues, we couldn't afford to lose another team," Vandham sighed.

"The Lieutenant was about to practically drag us out to go look for all of you," Gwin added followed by a yelp when Irina hit him.

"I think she was just worried the prodigy would get killed off before she proved who was top dog," Doug joked. Elma and Hiro laughed at the flustered expression on Irina's face. Gwin would have but wisely stayed silent.

"Don't worry, he won't fall because of some Xenos," Elma praised as she nudged him. Hiro blushed and turned away from her a little. He heard Gwin snicker and he gave him a harsh glare that made him pale. Irina laughed at that one as she elbowed Gwin's arm.

"Such a hothead, I think I like this one, Colonel. I can see why you want him bumped up," Irina said but Hiro paid it no mind, compliment or no. Wait what?

"What?" he asked.

"We'll get to that a little later, can someone explain why there is a dancing…turnip here?" Vandham asked. Everyone turned to Tatsu who was doing some kind of wavy dance as he hopped on his stubby legs.

"Tatsu is Tatsu not food!" Tatsu exclaimed.

"Yeah, he's more of a potato," Lin said and that got a laugh out of everyone.

"Linly!" Tatsu screamed.

"So then, what is he doing here then?" Vandham asked.

"On behalf of planet Mira, Tatsu welcomes Earth People with treaty of friendship!" Tatsu said. Hiro groaned softly and took more interest in poking his useless vest now.

"Right…we think he could be a good source of Intel for this planet, though we don't know how useful that is," Elma explained, sheepishly.

"No worries, Tatsu is here now to protect new friends wherever they go. Especially, weak pathetic Linly with her weak bony wings," Tatsu said and Hiro shook his head. Irina looked like she was contemplating skewering him and Gwin chuckled nervously.

"They're called arms…and you better be quiet before I decide to skin you like a potato," Lin even placed a chopping board and a knife on the counter to emphasize and Tatsu jumped in fear.

"Lin, I think he's meat," Hiro commented casually. He smirked slightly though when he heard Lin place a pot on the counter.

"Oh! Then we can fry him then! I wonder if he tastes like chicken…" Lin said. Tatsu looked like he was about to lose it, followed by laughter from everyone.

"Linly mean!" Tatsu cried.

"Look who's talking and who said you were going to come with us. We're a special team you know. You should stay here with the rest of the ingredients," Lin threw back.

"It's for the best. You said your people are in danger, it would be best for you to remain here," Elma said.

"I agree, we can't be bothered to be looking after something that doesn't even come up to my knee. We have indigens and Xenos to fight," Hiro added.

"The colonel doesn't need to worry about a potato or a chicken. The prodigy and Lin don't need the burden either," Irina added.

"Wait! Tatsu can help friends! Tatsu knows many Nopon people and can help friends get into good graces. Plus Tatsu have this!" Tatsu pulled out what looked like a glowing floating orb that gave off a sort of colorful trail.

"This is a follow ball, it can guide you across Mira to your destination! You can borrow it for free!" Tatsu declared.

"Follow Ball?" Doug asked.

"That's the best name you could come up with? And what do you mean borrow? Don't you know anything about giving things?" Lin asked, annoyed.

"What? No Nopon trader would ever give things out for free without expecting it back!" Tatsu said, aghast.

"So…charitable and grateful…" Irina grumbled.

"Be that as it may, the tater tot has a point. Very well then, he'll accompany Elma's team into the field on their missions," Vandham said. Hiro sighed but he'd deal with it, hopefully Tatsu would know when to run and hide while they dealt with threats.

"What you got to be kidding? Why do we have to take care of him?" Lin cried out, aghast.

"You're the ones who found him and brought him back so he's your problem. I doubt Irina or Doug would be able to tolerate him anyway," Vandham said. Hiro had a feeling he just didn't want to deal with Tatsu at all, lovely.

"Oh fine…I guess we could always have him for backup food in case we run out of rations…" Lin commented. Everyone laughed a bit at Tatsu's expense again, it was too easy.

"Sorry Colonel," Irina offered.

"Suck up…" Gwin muttered followed by a yelp of pain.

"Don't worry Elma, I'm sure this one will prove us wrong too," Doug added and Hiro was satisfied when he saw a black eye on him.

"See that wasn't so hard now was it, he'll be your charge Lin," Vandham said.

"What!? Oh come on! I have my hands full out there in a fight! I can't be stuck worrying about him! Why does he have to follow me around all the time! Hiro, Elma help me out!" Lin pleaded.

"As long as he doesn't get in the way," Hiro sighed.

"As the Commander says, Lin," Elma said though Hiro had a feeling she was faking the professional tone that time. Neither of them wanted to deal with Tatsu twenty-four-seven.

"This is so unfair…" Lin grumbled.

"Don't worry, you could always lock him up when you're home," Doug added and Lin smirked slightly as Tatsu began complaining again but this time he was ignored.

"Very well then, welcome to Blade Tater, you better measure up," Vandham said. He ignored Tatsu's words though and turned to Hiro though.

"Now then, Elma put in a request for you but it was so sudden and you're new so I wasn't sure. Except after hearing the report of this mission, I can see why she pushed for it. Nagi agrees with me as well," Vandham explained.

"Pushed for what?" Hiro asked. He had a feeling about what was going on but still, it definitely was sudden.

"Elma wants you to be promoted of course. She wants you to be able to command of course! Ha! I can only agree with her now after hearing about your exploits. I'd be stupid to let other idiots boss you around, so I'll let you boss them around. Go to your room and come back so we can make it official," Vandham said unceremoniously. Hiro's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Elma who just gave him a small smile and a nod. He sighed and stood even though he was actually excited.

"Here goes…" he went to his assigned room and he saw a large case placed in the room. He opened the case and he was pleasantly surprised by what he found. It was a set of the heavy armor made by Sakuraba Industries except it was different from the standard he'd seen around. He wanted a set for a little while now since it would suit his up close and personal style.

The armor was modified from the usual set. He noticed the armor had plating in areas that didn't and at the same time the armor was thinner, which would give both more protection and more freedom of movement. He also noticed that the style it was crafted in was similar to a medieval knight's armor in a way. The other thing that was sticking out was that it was pitch black in color. Next to the armor was a longsword that was black in color but it had touches of red to it as well. Hiro whistled softly from seeing it but at the same time he felt a…familiarity when he saw the gear. He shook his head though since the others were waiting for him no doubt.

"Lets get suited up then…"

 **A Few Moments Later**

"This feels so familiar…" Hiro thought as he adjusted his new armor. He moved around in it, a bit surprised by how much freedom he had in the armor. Even though it wasn't powered up he could move in it well, a beauty of the power armor from Sakurabra was that even if the armor wasn't powered on, the wearer could still move easily. His new sword even felt lighter in his hand than his old one did yet he somehow knew that everything was just…stronger. When his armor powered up though a light screen of blue flowed over the armor before fading away…was that some kind of shield? He'd worry about it later.

"Well, let's go see the others then…" he thought as he left his room. When he came back to the kitchen everyone was standing up and they saluted him.

"Congratulations, Hiro. You're now officially a Lieutenant of BLADE! I trust you will not let our faith in you go unfounded," Vandham said respectfully. Hiro straightened up and saluted them back.

"Of course, Commander, sir!" Hiro replied firmly. At that point the others broke the mood and began congratulating him. He noticed Vandham sneak off though before he could properly thank him for agreeing to the request. No he was more occupied with the proud look on Elma's face, it made his heart pound.

"Let's celebrate already!" Lin gushed as she pulled him over to the counter where there was a bunch of prepared food, was this planned? He might have spoke against what was going on but whatever complaints he had in mind were wiped clean after Elma handed him a bottle of what he assumed was alcohol.

"You deserve this, Hiro. I don't take actions like this unless I believe in them. I hold no doubt that you'll help us find the Lifehold in no time," Elma praised as she raised her own bottle up.

"Damn right! Those Xenos won't know what hit them! They'll wish they never decided to mess with NLA!" Irina added as she brought her own drink up.

"Still bummed that the new guy is already outranking me but I'm happy for him!" Gwin added with his own drink.

"Don't be so bummed out, Gwin you're not the only one!" Doug patted Gwin on the back as he raised up his bottle.

"Don't ruin the mood! Hiro's going to help us change the world!" Lin praised as she brought up a bottle of…apple juice? Thank god, Hiro didn't condone underage drinking.

"This is going to get crazy before it gets better isn't it?" Hiro chuckled but he raised his bottle up as well.

"This looks like a glorious friendship in the making!" Tatsu added as he hopped up onto Lin's shoulder and held out a bottle to the growing circle, who gave him a drink?!

"Cheers!" everyone shouted as their drinks clanked together. Hiro tipped back the drink when everyone else did, he didn't like the taste much but he bit it back since this was all for him after all. When everyone finished their first take Lin lifted up Tatsu into the air.

"Great! Tatsu is the main course!"

"What?!"


End file.
